Paintings

Saturday, April 2, 2011

The New Reality

Well, I have had a couple of days now for my new reality to sink in.

I think that there must be stages because I certainly feel like I have had 2 already. The first stage was elation. I am retired.

The second stage seemed to be sadness and nostalgia. I am retired. I am no longer a graphic designer. I had a wonderful career. And now it is over. There is a certain sadness to that. I worked very hard at my career. I went back to school at one point and received my certificate in graphic design. When I first started my career in publishing it was as a photo researcher. In those days, photo research was very different than it is now. There were many independent photographers and photography companies. You had to contact each one individually with your specs. If you needed an interesting shot of a tiger you contacted Animals, Animals. There was Image Bank, Stock Market, Norbert Wu, and so many others. If you needed something really specific you contacted some of the more well known Athenaeums.

Now, everything seems to be owned by Corbis.

In those days there were no electronic images. You had to fax your specs in to the photographers and they would send you slides. Sometimes hundreds of slides. When you received the slides, the first thing you had to do was log them in. That consisted of photocopying both the front and back of each and every slide. They were usually in slide sleeves so that you could do multiples at once. But still it was intense. Sometimes you spent all day photocopying the slides. Then you put them in folders and drawers, labeled with the book, chapter and designer. The designers would come and take the slides and choose which ones they wanted. When they brought them back they were no longer in the same place they were when you gave them to them.

When they finally chose the slide or slides they wanted, and it was time to send the rejects back, you had to first put everything back where they were when you originally got them. It was like giant jigsaw puzzle. Sometimes when a project was over there were literally thousands of slides to organize. You had to make sure there were no lost slides. Each slide had a value of $1500. So you didn’t want anything to be lost.

Now, all the photo researcher has to do is go online to a place like Corbis, pick out a few lo-res images, and show them to the designer. The designer picks one, the researcher orders it and a few minutes later the hi res is downloaded. No photocopying, no lost slides. So much easier.

7 comments:

Good!! A passage on to the next stage of your life. A place I long to be, but think it will be hard financially. I will never be at a loss of something to keep me busy or to be interested in. But I will miss the cash and will struggle to balance the books, I am sure.

Enjoy your new found fee time. There are so many that never get it, or worse yet, live to experience it.

Good for you Roberta! I retired in '99 and I keep waiting for them (EDS/HP) to call me back to work! So glad they don't! You'll find your days are now filled with doing what you want to do rather than what you 'have' to do! Enjoy! life is too short! Don't look back! Only forward!

Congratulations on deciding to Retire! The word sounds much more intimidating than it really is. Enjoy your newfound freedom to do what you want!If you miss doing graphic design too much, you could always try freelance work. Just a thought :)

One thing I've learned in my life is that nothing you do is ever really lost or over. You may not technically BE a graphic designer anymore, but what you learned and the aspects of that career will always be with you in whatever else you do. It's an artistic expression and you're still using that for your jewelry, which is beautiful.

I went to college to study English/journalism. I got sidetracked into medical work for years but when I was in my 40's I was hired as a reporter for our hometown newspaper. Now I make my living as a freelance writer. The education I got in college was always there on the back burner and now I'm using it.

Roberta, if you're a real designer, you're never not one! You may or may not currently have a paid position as one, but the "eye" that seeks to apply harmony, balance, and color to the page (or whatever) doesn't go away. Enjoy your retirement...now there's more time for all the art projects!

Artist Statement

For most of my life I have been a painter. I have worked in pen and ink, watercolors, gouache, oils and acrylics. I have always painted the world around me in all its true splendor. For many years I lived in the tropics and painted the lush plant life that surrounded me. When I left the tropics and moved out into the country I painted landscapes of the local farms and my wonderful vegetable garden. Now that I am living in the Sonoran desert, I am influenced by the very unique and wonderful looking cactus and flowers I see on my walks.

Thank you for looking at my work and please get in touch if you would like to purchase something.